Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year from all of us at the Whitworth!

As 2021 draws to an end, we are reflecting back on successes and struggles the last 12 months, perhaps to be remembered as a year of perseverance, one in which we dug deep in the face of so many challenges and ended the year with the Whitworth looking like the gallery I always imagined, full of song and full of many voices, convening people, bringing joy and asking the deepest questions of the times we are living through. A gallery for the people, with a real conscience and consciousness. A gallery that is about art and the role it plays in our lives.

A debt of gratitude is due is due the gallery team for fighting through this year and making with artists the most astonishing work you will see anywhere. Thank you also to all our visitors, users, neighbours, constituents, networks, colleagues, our friends and our challengers for making this place so vibrant and relevant.

Whatever your faith or belief, the Winter Solstice turns around the shortest day and the longest night. It is a time of new growth, rebirth and renewal, a reminder that in order to begin anew, the old must end and the wheel – or yule – must turn again. Here’s to rolling on forward with you all in 2022.

Alistair Hudson